i\ESTS AMD BGCS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



3^9 



and pcrfonning the curious office of nipping ofT all the branchlets above 

 tlie nest. This we observed in every instance. 



I cannot do betten than give an extract from a note on these interests 

 ing birds kindly furishcd me by Mr. Shepherd : " It indeed makes a 

 iiandsome nest situated among the leaves of the topmost branches of 

 some t;ill gum sapling where it is very hard to find, and were it not for 

 the male bird piping forth a low, soft, flute-like note on an adjacent 

 limb, would seldom be discovered at all. He sings while the female 

 works liard to build the nest, tlie male apparently assisting very little, 

 if at all, in the work. He, however, works at shaping the branch 

 above the nest by clipping off the extreme points of the branches, a 

 comparatively easy matter, with his strong bill. This he does during 

 the first few days of nest building, until cjuitc a quantity of small 

 branchlets and leaves strew the ground under the tree. The nest 

 usually tiikes about two weeks to construct, when the female lays a pair 

 (sometimes three) of beautiful finely spotted eggs. The male bird 



relieves the female from time to time during the jwriod of incubation, 

 which lasts about 18 or 20 days." 



A fine and fuU set of the eggs of tliis beautiful bird taken by 

 Mr. Shepherd enrich my collection. Their value is much enhanced 

 by the fact that they were taken early one delightful mid-summer morn 

 (4 a.m., 13th December, 1896) wiicn Mr. Shepherd was assisted by his 

 too indulgent wife, who mamcuvred the cUmbiug rope for him on the 

 ground beneath the bending branch. 



Dr. Morgan (Adelaide) tells me he once found a Shrike Tit's nest 

 within reach of the ground, in a wattle-trcc. 



Breeding months September to December or Jauuai-y. 



251. — Falcunculus leucog.^ster, Gould. — (130) 

 WHITE-BELLIED SHRIKE TIT. 



Figure. — Gould: Birds of Australia, fol, vol ii , pi. So. 



Reference. — Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., vol. viii., p. 174 



Previous Description of Egi-s. — Gould : Birds of Australia, Handbook, 

 vol. i., p. 230 (18651. 



Geographical Distribution. — West Australia. 



Nest. — Deep, cup-shaped, composed of stringy bark of gum-ti'ees 

 ( Euctihjpti ) and lined with fine grasses, the whole matted together ex- 

 ternally with cobwebs. A nest Gilbert found was placed among the 

 topmost and weakest perpendicular branches of a Eucalypt, at a height 

 of fifty feet (Gould). 



Bggs. — Clutch, three; glossy white, with numerous minute speckles 

 of dark-olive, most thickly disposed at the larger end. Dimensions in 

 inches, -87 x 62 (Gould). 



